New York City dog guardians and their umbrella group NYCdog recently received an URGENT ALERT from Terese Flores, the district manager for New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Apparently someone posted a post on Craiglist, in which he/she which threatened to place poison in all the city’s dog runs. (There are dozens of runs, plus acres of park land on which dogs may run and romp).

Of course, this Craiglist post could be a hoax. But it could be real. Sick, but real. I remember once a man in my childhood neighborhood poisoned our favorite neighborhood dog because the dog kept getting into his trash. So much cruelty, so much rage.

Anyway, the Parks Department has issued a list of precautions:

1. When entering the dog run, please study it carefully BEFORE unleashing your dog.
2. If you spot ANYTHING suspicious, IMMEDIATELY call the police, pep, and 311. Stay nearby until police arrive.
3. Do not touch anything suspicious and do not let any dogs near it.
4. Be vigilant right OUTSIDE of your dog parks. If someone truly intends to poison dogs, placing laced food near the dog runs is a way to avoid being easily spotted. Again, if you spot anything, report it immediately.
5. If you hear or see anything, please also let NYCdog know so that we can notify our members.

Those of us with expert-scarfer dogs must be particularly vigilant, because, as we know, these little rascals can scarf up sidewalk food in the blink of an eye.

The link to the threatening Craiglist post itself is not being disclosed, so that officials may investigate properly.

Lee Harrington is the author of the best-selling memoir, Rex and the City: A Woman, a Man, and a Dysfunctional Dog (Random House, 2006), and of the forthcoming novel, Nothing Keeps a Frenchman from His Lunch. emharrington.com